The Life of Jim
by Gentle Breezes
Summary: A short fic reflecting on Jim's life in the movie, plus a little bit of future stuff. Under the General/Drama section because I just didn't know where to put it.


Disclaimer: I don't own the movie Treasure Planet or any of its characters or anything like that. XD

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Jim is 3 years old, staying up too late and reading a book about his favorite pirate: Captain Nathaniel Flint. His mother catches him off guard, playfully scolding him but giving into his demand for the rest of the story. He snuggles up to her and re-opens the book. He watches the events playing out on the pages, looking forward to each part even though he's heard this story a thousand times. And although he's anticipating the part about how Flint vanished without a trace, he wonders when it will be his dad, not his mom, who comes in and playful scolds him before sitting to read the rest of the book with him.

Jim is 7 years old, playing on the rug in the parlor, trying to put a stick with a small sail into a hole in a piece of wood to make a little solar surfer. He finally gets it right; the tiny wooden solar surfer complete. He smiles with satisfaction, and sees the door to his house open. Immediately, he is overpowered by the height of his father over his small measure. He holds up his finished work for his dad to see and be proud of. The man he admires so much gives him a small pat on the head and takes his heavy boots to the other room. Jim's heart sinks. He'd thought that his father would be proud. Perhaps he should try harder?

Jim is 10 years old, sleeping in late. He's not even awake yet, and already the hazy, heavy morning is creeping up on him. His mind comes out of sleep, but his eyes don't open. He wonders how much longer it will be before his mom and dad stop fighting, and how long it will be before his dad finally realizes that he's been standing there, waiting to be noticed. He wonders how long it will be before his dad will help him take back those days they'd never spent together in his tiny childhood. He hears the sound of a door slam, and his eyes bolt open. He sits up and listens. His heart sinks as he looks out his window to see his father carrying his travel pack, disappearing down the path towards the pier. He faintly hears his mother's familiar sobs, and charges out of his room down the stairs. He looks to see his mother's shoulders quivering and her hand covering her face. He doesn't even speak, and he runs for his life out the door and down the dirt road even though he knows his feet are being torn against the rocks and pebbles. If his father leaves now, he'll never know that he could have always come to reclaim those times Jim needed him, and he'll never know just how much Jim wanted him to love him and his mother. He cries to his father, who is walking towards his ship, but he doesn't seem to hear. His heavy boots leave the wood of the pier and press down on the deck of the ship. Why won't he at least turn around? The ship leaves the pier, and Jim loses all reason and sticks his hand out to at least grab the edge. The ship leaves and he doesn't even feel the wood touch his finger nails. He screams out to his dad, and sees him turn only a little before focusing on the sky ahead and flying away, out of reach. When he comes back inside the house, he still finds his mother in an emotional wreck, yet she stands up to comfort him in his confusion and tears. Although she is the one comforting him as her child, he defensively holds her in his small arms. He'd been able to forgive his dad all these years, somehow finding an excuse for everything he'd done wrong. Now he realizes, as hot tears of sheer anger and hate well up in his eyes, that it didn't amount to anything. This was real. His father had abandoned him and his mom. He'd never forgive him.

Jim is 15 years old, flying on a wave of rebellious and wild abandon as he soars on his solar surfer. He flies places people never thought he'd be able to go, and he flies places people thought he'd never go. No matter which side of the spectrum these opinions come from, he breaks them all with each maneuver. And he gets into trouble. He knows his mother works hard and does her best every day, but he feels she will never know the amount of chaos roiling underneath his unamused face and annoyed eyes. This is his unconscious revenge waged against his absent father. The cops find him breaking opinions again. His mother looks at him disappointed again. He assumes the usual look again. It all seems never-ending until an old salamander gives him a strange relic. The Inn burns to the ground, along with his mother's hopes and memories. He feels he is to blame, even though he is innocent just this once. There is a map held within the old relic, and he shows himself for the first time in years as he promises to set things right. His promise does not fall on deaf ears, and soon he is off on a ship to find the treasure at the end of the trail the holographic map displayed. And now, he is up in space getting into trouble. He is pushed around by an old cyborg who has given up things and lost things like he has. He finds an intrepid friend in this battered cook, and this cook finds a boy to mend in this battered young teenager. They taste freedom up in the stars as they race through comets in longboats at speeds too dangerous for either to care. Jim believes things are finally starting to come together.

Jim is still 15, and again torn apart. Due to the strange nature of playing the part of a purp in a barrel, he has now lost something once more. But it is clear what he must do. Leave the pieces, save what's left. So he flies off the ship and saves what's left, and what's left lands precariously in the middle of the planet where the treasure is. Jim no longer needs to be forced. He is ready for action. He searches and fights and endures. He gets caught and still fights and endures. And at the end, after all the explosions and skirmishes and ruined plans, he finds the light at the end of the tunnel. He finds that the old broken cook still has enough heart left in him to find that light too. Jim is now able to move forward because of that man whom he can consider his father, a man whom he only met once and will probably never see again.

Jim is 16 and is leading a brave life. He is constantly breaking the bad opinions, no more chaos or turmoil underneath his expressions. The light is coming off his sails. He feels freedom down to his bones even when he's not flying. He amazes his teachers in the Interstellar Academy with abilities he didn't even know he had. His mother smiles more, and things that he didn't know were broken mend themselves before his eyes. The world has become nothing of an ideal, but rather a brighter place.

Jim is 20 and has found his way about the worlds correctly. He is graduating from the Academy and sees the future brighter than ever. The ceremony is held outside on his home planet Montressor. He muses wistfully that on this day a few years ago, he had left for Treasure Planet to bring back its riches and found himself instead. He walks across a stage, the light coming off his sails once more. The crowd cheers as the young offspring of the world become adults. The words of the old cook have not left him, even though he is sure the old cook has taken his final rest by now. Or maybe not. Who knows?

And away from the crowd, watching from a far off hill, there is an old and weather-worn man with heavy boots who sees Jim shake hands and slap backs and give his mother a hug. And as he sighs and smiles alone in another world, he looks at the brightness of this young man's face and wonders what would have happened had he turned around and flown back to the boy who'd screamed out so desperately for him all those years ago.

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I sincerely hope this didn't crumple up and topple over itself towards the end, as this is my first story posted on this site. I tried getting the ages right, and I really hope I did. As for the graduating at 20 thing, I based that off of the Battle at Procyon game, in which it explains its been 5 years since he joined the Academy and he's taking a final exam to graduate. I've never played the game, so I can't say anything more about it. XD

But anyway! Feedback/comments/critiques on this would be appreciated if you have any to give. Thank you for reading! ^_^


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